It was my first visit to the Western Hemisphere. I was to serve for 6 weeks as a volunteer dentist and oral surgeon in Jamaica. I was on an early morning flight from New York to Montego Bay. That morning, I was so hungry I could eat anything…at least until I saw two men kissing on seats across the aisle. The middle aged balding man unabashedly petted and fondled an effeminate youth with a brush moustache. I had never seen two men kissing openly before. The scene was a culture shock that took away my appetite.
It was therefore a rather hungry young man who landed in the small and informal Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay. Mr. George Palmer the local coordinator received me and dropped me off at the house where I would stay for the next few weeks. I then met the formidable Irma who would be my cook, bodyguard, advisor and babysitter. She was referred to generally as Irma the maid. I first shocked her by emerging from my room with a lungi. She would always refer to me as the guy from India who wore a skirt. She had not cooked lunch. How would she know what a brown guy in a skirt would eat!!? We often laughed about it later. In any case I was to eat in a nearby restaurant the first day. My first lunch was in the neighbourhood local restaurant where I ordered what I was told was the ‘national dish’- Ackee and Salt fish. It was a disaster. The ackee is some kind of fruit that tasted like nothing I had eaten before. It came with a steamed, peeled, raw banana which reminded me of something we don’t talk about at a dinner table. The fish was salty as promised but certainly not to my taste. I had a forkful of each in deference to Jamaican sentiments about their national food and went back to the house. Later that evening I was informed by a friendly neighbour that unripe Ackee could be dangerous and one could die if it was not cooked properly. I decided that I would not like to die on a sun kissed Caribbean island 10,000Kms from home with undigested raw Ackee in my system. I would see plenty of it over the next month. Never ate it again.
I sat Irma down the next day to plan my meals. We agreed about avoiding Ackee at all costs. She told me a list of things she liked making. She was not what you would call an imaginative cook. The good news for her was that I had no food restrictions. I knew I would survive. I returned from work the first afternoon to what she called a beef soup. It was the most elaborate soup I have had. There were vegetables, dumplings and various other ingredients, some floating and some sunk to the bottom of a large bowl that could feed a small family and their pet dog. For the next few days it was roast lamb or chicken and rice. It takes some time for South Indians to get used to the idea that rice can be eaten without some kind of gravy. I never thought I would ever crave for Sāmbhar in my life. I meekly mixed my rice everyday with Tabasco sauce.
I met Kishore Gopal about a week into my assignment. He was a dentist from Thirupathi working for the Jamaican Government. We met through a common friend, a nurse who worked in one of the clinics I visited. After introductions we started speaking in English. She insisted that we should feel comfortable and speak in our native language. I spoke English, Malayalam and Tamil. He spoke English and Telugu. Both of us had only a vague familiarity with Hindi. English was our common language. The nurse insisted that we speak in our native tongue. She could not believe that we came from the same country and knew several languages but English was the only common one we could communicate in. Gopal, whose wife was away on vacation, introduced me to the Red Stripe Jamaican beer and Jerky pork. When he first suggested Jerky pork I could not dismiss from my mind the recurring imagery of a convulsing pig jerking in a barbeque pit. I later learnt that Jerky came from the Jamaican use of the word Charqui which means dried meat in the language of the Arawak Indians (The original inhabitants of Jamaica). Jerky Pork or Chicken with the accompanying sauces made from one of the spiciest chili sauces became our standard dinner. This was invariably washed down with six pack cans of Red Stripe beer or Jamaican Rum Punches. The world famous Appleton estate rum was distilled just a few kilometers away from where I stayed. Jerky pork or chicken or beef is actually dried meat marinated in spices and pimento sauces and cooked over a smoking pit of wood charcoal. One could actually stand at the edge of the pit and select portions.
The Jamaicans were a happy people who danced, drank and ate with gay abandon. They happily went about eating their Ackee and salt fish without any major disaster. Nobody else I talked to had heard about an ackee death. However, I later came to know about scientific reports of death caused by severe alkaloid induced hypoglycaemia from the raw ackee (which was brought to Jamaica by the slaves from West Africa). The Jamaicans have a very eclectic cuisine borrowed from various ethnic groups that have settled in the country over the years.
It was on my last evening in Jamaica that I was introduced to the very popular local dish called curried goat. It tasted every bit like a typical south Indian mutton curry, replete with ground coconut and spices. In fact it entered Jamaican cuisine through the relatively small ethnic Indian community who came to Jamaica more than 150 years before as indentured labour. They were sometimes derogatively referred to as ‘coolie’ Indians. I was once called that by an irate driver in a traffic jam. They mostly lived in a county called Westmoreland near Montego Bay. On my last day I was happy to taste a bit of India on the happy dinner table of the joyous people of Jamaica. They truly epitomized the national motto “out of many one people”. Where else would you find traditional Arawak Indian Jerky pork, West African Ackee and Asian Indian Goat Curry at one table?
George Paul
October 1991
Monday, December 12, 2011
Kinky Food!!!
“Balut! Balut!" cried the hawker, carrying a steaming basket on his shoulder. I had been hearing this cry every evening for several days. I knew it was something people ate, but did not have a clue what it was. I finally asked a Filipino friend.
“Oh! You haven’t eaten a Balut?” he enquired incredulously. He tried explaining the rather unique delicacy. To me it sounded like some form of boiled egg!
“No big deal, we eat plenty of them back home” said I. He thought for a while and said this was different. He told me it was ‘sexy’. Now! I was really curious.
I finally approached the hawker the next day with the trepidation of a teenager buying condoms at a pharmacy. The description of ‘sexy’ was making me curious. The hawker spoke a little English. He whipped aside the steaming cloth that covered a basket full of eggs. He went on to crack the top of one egg to make a little hole. I was getting quite nervous about this whole affair. He proffered the egg to me and asked me to suck the contents out through the hole. He watched while I tentatively put my lips to the hole in the egg. I almost felt like I was doing something clandestine. Seeing me suck up the contents of the egg he heaved the basket onto his shoulders with the ominous promise of “Make you sexy”. The contents went down my throat – a warm, gelatinous mucus like bolus, leaving behind some tasteless crunchy bits in my mouth. I chewed and swallowed that too. I hurried back to my hotel room. I certainly did not want to be overwhelmed by some gross sexual transformation on the main street of the little town of Puerto Princesa. God only knew what it was!? I sat back and waited for the ‘sex elements’ to take effect. After about an hour I realized nothing was happening. Realizing it was safe to venture out, I sauntered out to the hotel bar. Over a bottle of beer (the world famous San Miguel) a Filipino doctor friend told me about the enigmatic Balut. Balut, he explained, was a fertilized egg that is incubated till about 10 to 15 days to allow the chick to form. It is then boiled and the developing chick is eaten by sucking it out through a small hole as I had done. The crunchy bits were the cartilages of the chick’s early skeleton. The rest was obviously half formed foetal tissues which were of course boiled. The locals also called it an ‘abortion’. He told me that he himself preferred it a little more mature- incubated for a few more days. He explained that there would be some downy feathers by then. He offered to introduce me to the more mature feathery version. I politely declined. No! I wasn’t in a mood for the more ‘well done’ version. I then delicately put the question uppermost in my mind. “What about its aphrodisiac properties”. The Filipino doctor burst into laughter. He confirmed what I already suspected. It was a popular myth. “The feathers sometimes tickle your palate” he said. “Nothing else gets tickled….” he said with a mischievous smile!!
“Oh! You haven’t eaten a Balut?” he enquired incredulously. He tried explaining the rather unique delicacy. To me it sounded like some form of boiled egg!
“No big deal, we eat plenty of them back home” said I. He thought for a while and said this was different. He told me it was ‘sexy’. Now! I was really curious.
I finally approached the hawker the next day with the trepidation of a teenager buying condoms at a pharmacy. The description of ‘sexy’ was making me curious. The hawker spoke a little English. He whipped aside the steaming cloth that covered a basket full of eggs. He went on to crack the top of one egg to make a little hole. I was getting quite nervous about this whole affair. He proffered the egg to me and asked me to suck the contents out through the hole. He watched while I tentatively put my lips to the hole in the egg. I almost felt like I was doing something clandestine. Seeing me suck up the contents of the egg he heaved the basket onto his shoulders with the ominous promise of “Make you sexy”. The contents went down my throat – a warm, gelatinous mucus like bolus, leaving behind some tasteless crunchy bits in my mouth. I chewed and swallowed that too. I hurried back to my hotel room. I certainly did not want to be overwhelmed by some gross sexual transformation on the main street of the little town of Puerto Princesa. God only knew what it was!? I sat back and waited for the ‘sex elements’ to take effect. After about an hour I realized nothing was happening. Realizing it was safe to venture out, I sauntered out to the hotel bar. Over a bottle of beer (the world famous San Miguel) a Filipino doctor friend told me about the enigmatic Balut. Balut, he explained, was a fertilized egg that is incubated till about 10 to 15 days to allow the chick to form. It is then boiled and the developing chick is eaten by sucking it out through a small hole as I had done. The crunchy bits were the cartilages of the chick’s early skeleton. The rest was obviously half formed foetal tissues which were of course boiled. The locals also called it an ‘abortion’. He told me that he himself preferred it a little more mature- incubated for a few more days. He explained that there would be some downy feathers by then. He offered to introduce me to the more mature feathery version. I politely declined. No! I wasn’t in a mood for the more ‘well done’ version. I then delicately put the question uppermost in my mind. “What about its aphrodisiac properties”. The Filipino doctor burst into laughter. He confirmed what I already suspected. It was a popular myth. “The feathers sometimes tickle your palate” he said. “Nothing else gets tickled….” he said with a mischievous smile!!
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Another Train Journey
It was another one of those long train journeys taking me home after a conference. I did the usual things to while away the morning- reading, dreaming and scheming. North bound trains, I am convinced, have the worst food. Fortunately, choosing a meal was easy. I had the simple choice between vegetable biriyani and egg biriyani. I favoured the vegetable biriyani , simply because I believed it was less toxic. I don’t particularly like the terrible experience of salmonella poisoning (with rotten eggs). Certainly not in our railway toilets. I tucked reluctantly into the half cooked, suspiciously coloured rice with a fragile plastic fork which distinctly looked used. There was only a faint suggestion of vegetables in the meal-a sliver of carrot and a slice of green chilli. The only hope of anything palatable lay inside a plastic pickle packet that was clearly not meant to be opened without a dental struggle. I tried vainly to open it with my teeth and tasted success when it spilt unceremoniously on my moustache and lips. The IRCTC sure does make you work for a meal.
I then settled in for a planned afternoon nap. Over the years I learnt the hard way that it was not easy to take a siesta in a train. There would be the loud conversations between passengers, ringing of mobiles and the intermittent hawker who walked down the aisles shouting “Waterrrrr” or “Tomater soup” or whatever. The few who wished to take a nap invariably snored- and they always fell asleep before I did. These days I go equipped with ear plugs which are quite effective in keeping out most of the noises. I woke up at 4.00 PM ( an hour before my scheduled arrival) surprised at the silence around me. There were three other fellow passengers in my coupe. They talked and laughed animatedly but noiselessly. I removed my ear plugs and was surprised that there was still no sound. I would have panicked about my eardrums but for the fact that I could still hear the clatter of the train.
I watched amazed as the three of them spoke with their lips, hands and a wide array of facial expressions. I soon realized that they were all deaf and dumb. It made me wonder at the remarkable nature of their interactions. There was never a moment in their conversations when one of them could take their eyes of the faces of the others. There was something intense in the communication which we ‘normal’ people ignore. We can talk, narrate, curse or ridicule someone while looking away from them. It is our way of emotionally distancing ourselves when we lie, deceive or have something unpleasant to say. If these special people dared to take their eyes away from the other, there would be no conversation. It would be like putting an ear plug in. Looking into the eyes of others, brings to human interaction a sublime level of intensity and sincerity. I wondered if it would be possible for these three persons to lie or deceive while looking into the face of the other. During a lull in the conversation, the oldest of the three, seeing me watching them, indicated with his hands that the teenager sitting beside him was his daughter. He put a cupped right hand, palm facing downwards and the left hand vertically below, palm facing upwards to indicate a child. I smiled. What else could I do? I was the handicapped one in the crowd. The gentleman then indicated the young handsome man sitting across him and indicated that his daughter and the young man were going to play badminton. He indicated badminton with a telling unmistakable swing of his hands. With my limited dumb charade vocabulary I asked him where they were going. All three immediately turned their attention to me and the older man pulled out a document for me to read. They were on their way from Trivandrum to Lucknow for the national Badminton trials for the deaf and dumb. If they did get selected they could go to South Korea for the world meet. I smiled and indicated a flying airplane by with my hands. They nodded indulgently. I was learning. The older man then revealed through a complex series of actions and lip synchs that he had another daughter and that all four including his wife were deaf and mute. With some difficulty (for me) they managed to ask what I did? I pointed to my mouth and acted out a tooth extraction and they went into paroxysms of appreciative laughter- the only sounds that came out of them. I really was learning. I was just thinking that they must be lucky to not have to use a mobile phone, when the younger man whipped out a Nokia handset. He wanted my number. I wrote it down for him. He indicated that he would message me by gesturing and acting out the process on his mobile keypads. Just as I realized I was catching on the train began to slow down. I was reaching my destination. As the train came to a halt, the sounds of the station came in through the open door of the coach. A cacophony of languages, footfalls and yelling interspersed with those of the hawkers hoarsely vending their tea, coffee and Vadai. Welcome back to the real world. We said our goodbyes with handshakes and I gave the silent universal thumbs up to the two young players. Driving home from the station, I resolved that I will learn the hand language. It would be a great way to spend my old age- gesticulating silently to my wife and breaking out into peals of laughter!!!
I then settled in for a planned afternoon nap. Over the years I learnt the hard way that it was not easy to take a siesta in a train. There would be the loud conversations between passengers, ringing of mobiles and the intermittent hawker who walked down the aisles shouting “Waterrrrr” or “Tomater soup” or whatever. The few who wished to take a nap invariably snored- and they always fell asleep before I did. These days I go equipped with ear plugs which are quite effective in keeping out most of the noises. I woke up at 4.00 PM ( an hour before my scheduled arrival) surprised at the silence around me. There were three other fellow passengers in my coupe. They talked and laughed animatedly but noiselessly. I removed my ear plugs and was surprised that there was still no sound. I would have panicked about my eardrums but for the fact that I could still hear the clatter of the train.
I watched amazed as the three of them spoke with their lips, hands and a wide array of facial expressions. I soon realized that they were all deaf and dumb. It made me wonder at the remarkable nature of their interactions. There was never a moment in their conversations when one of them could take their eyes of the faces of the others. There was something intense in the communication which we ‘normal’ people ignore. We can talk, narrate, curse or ridicule someone while looking away from them. It is our way of emotionally distancing ourselves when we lie, deceive or have something unpleasant to say. If these special people dared to take their eyes away from the other, there would be no conversation. It would be like putting an ear plug in. Looking into the eyes of others, brings to human interaction a sublime level of intensity and sincerity. I wondered if it would be possible for these three persons to lie or deceive while looking into the face of the other. During a lull in the conversation, the oldest of the three, seeing me watching them, indicated with his hands that the teenager sitting beside him was his daughter. He put a cupped right hand, palm facing downwards and the left hand vertically below, palm facing upwards to indicate a child. I smiled. What else could I do? I was the handicapped one in the crowd. The gentleman then indicated the young handsome man sitting across him and indicated that his daughter and the young man were going to play badminton. He indicated badminton with a telling unmistakable swing of his hands. With my limited dumb charade vocabulary I asked him where they were going. All three immediately turned their attention to me and the older man pulled out a document for me to read. They were on their way from Trivandrum to Lucknow for the national Badminton trials for the deaf and dumb. If they did get selected they could go to South Korea for the world meet. I smiled and indicated a flying airplane by with my hands. They nodded indulgently. I was learning. The older man then revealed through a complex series of actions and lip synchs that he had another daughter and that all four including his wife were deaf and mute. With some difficulty (for me) they managed to ask what I did? I pointed to my mouth and acted out a tooth extraction and they went into paroxysms of appreciative laughter- the only sounds that came out of them. I really was learning. I was just thinking that they must be lucky to not have to use a mobile phone, when the younger man whipped out a Nokia handset. He wanted my number. I wrote it down for him. He indicated that he would message me by gesturing and acting out the process on his mobile keypads. Just as I realized I was catching on the train began to slow down. I was reaching my destination. As the train came to a halt, the sounds of the station came in through the open door of the coach. A cacophony of languages, footfalls and yelling interspersed with those of the hawkers hoarsely vending their tea, coffee and Vadai. Welcome back to the real world. We said our goodbyes with handshakes and I gave the silent universal thumbs up to the two young players. Driving home from the station, I resolved that I will learn the hand language. It would be a great way to spend my old age- gesticulating silently to my wife and breaking out into peals of laughter!!!
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Capital Punishment- State Sponsored Murder
It was black irony on 14th august 2004 when Dhananjoy Chaterjee was executed at the Alipore Correctional facility. It was sad that India’s ‘correctional principles’ involved the termination of life. Seven years later we are preparing for another correction. This time it will be Murugan, China Santhan and Perarivalan, the men who were allegedly involved in the assassination of our former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
This is not a defense for Dhananjoy Chaterjee or the three young men being prepared for the gallows. It is a candid, soul searching look ,at the rights of a civilized society to take away life- any life. Baying for revenge is a natural emotive reaction to a terrible deed.
It took twenty years of deliberation and prevarication to say that these men must be punished with death. Perarivalan whose crime was obtaining two nine volt batteries that detonated the bomb that killed Rajiv Gandhi must have been less than twenty years old at the time of his crime. The criminal justice system had enough time to think and deliberate with detached pragmatism. At the end it was irrational hate and revenge that prevailed. The men must have already died a thousand deaths- waiting for the state to decide.
In analyzing the rationale for legitimate governments to kill legally we must try to answer a fundamental question.
What do you do with criminals?
Criminologists, social scientists, human rights activists and judicial experts are more or less agreed that reformation should be the ultimate aim. It explains the use of the term ‘correctional’. The other two aims of punishment are deterrence and isolation from society. Deterrence certainly has its place in criminal reformation. However death as a form of deterrence has never really worked. The Sri Lankans and the Pakistanis and the Sikh separatists had their own agenda- and they were willing to die for it. How can a death sentence be a deterrent? It is only inviting the Indian Republic to be like a primeval society and take revenge? Is that what the father of our Nation would have wanted? Study after study from around the world has conclusively proved that death penalty has and never will be a deterrent even for the habitual criminal. It is hard for us to believe this because it appears like common sense that the promise of a strong punishment will frighten the criminal. In fact many well-conducted studies have shown that the certainty rather than the severity of punishment, serves as a deterrent. Canada, which abolished death penalty in 1976, has had a decrease in capital crimes by 40% from 1976 to 2002. In America, the southern states with the largest number of people on death row, continues to have a much larger incidence of capital crimes like murder and rape compared to the northern states. Many States in the USA have actually seen a decrease in crime rates after abolishing the death penalty and the introduction of life imprisonment without hope of a parole. Justice should not only be certain but also speedy. These statistics have been reproduced in numerous countries, which chose to scrap the death penalty. Today almost all the countries, including the European Union, South America and many states in the USA have abolished death penalty or do not have it as a government policy. The countries, which chose to retain the death penalty, have abysmal human rights records. The countries which do not have respect for human rights, like Saudi Arabia, have laws that are hardly worth emulating. India needs to decide what kind of example it must adopt as its social and judicial policy. The choice is between that of Europe with its high standard of fairness and Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iraq, Pakistan and the republic of Congo where even juveniles are punished with death penalty.
The answer to the dangers of allowing hardcore criminals into society may lie in the laws of commutation. It needs to be restructured to ensure that an incorrigible criminal will never go back to society. A life sentence for murder must be ‘for life’. Many ask why the taxpayer’s money should be used to keep them alive. The criminal will have to be accepted by society as a deviant mind, which is the product of his genetic disposition or the ill effects of the socio-political environment. We cannot eliminate them just as we do not eliminate mentally and physically deranged patients or non-productive senior citizens. The welfare state has to take some responsibilities. The only reason for supporting ‘death for the killer’ is a revengeful and barbaric emotion that cannot be a state policy- at least not in our country which has pledged itself as a welfare democracy based on the principles of ‘ahimsa’ propounded by the father of our nation- Mahatma Gandhi.
The Australian Council Against Death Penalty (ACADP) says this about capital punishment:
The most premeditated of all murders.
The only thing it accomplishes is death.
There is no justice or redemption for the criminal.
There is no restitution for the family of the victim.
There is only a dead body.-Another dead body and another group of innocent victims.
To understand the premeditated process of killing, one needs to examine the protocols that are followed. The prisoner knows the date and time and spends it in isolation, while his lawyers make last ditch efforts. There is a death watch to make sure that the prisoner does not kill himself (and thus deprive the state of the privilege). He is asked what he wants to dine on. Dhananjoy’s last meal was two extra pieces of fish, some curd and sweets. It was a small luxury- a few hours before he was to be hanged. Contrary to popular belief most people don’t get anything more than a cheese burger, fries and a soft drink (in the USA). The prison manual in India allows a vegetarian meal (unlimited I am told). Doctors examine and weigh them to make sure they are healthy. In India they are weighed to make sure the rope will hold. If the rope breaks, the prisoner might break his legs, you see. In the USA they are given diapers lest they void and embarrass themselves in the course of dying. They even swab the skin with a disinfectant before administering lethal injection. There is something sick and eerie about the methodical process of planned killing. No wonder the majority of countries with a conscience have done away with capital punishment.
In India there is yet another dimension. Race and religion. Many Tamils do not want the Sri Lankans killed. Many Muslims do not want Afzal Guru killed. Many Sikhs do not want Bhullar killed. I cannot differentiate one from the other. If Ajmal Kasab had killed randomly in Mumbai or Afzal Guru had played a role in threatening the Parliament then Murugan and others are involved in the murder of a former Prime minister and numerous others. To me these are as heinous as the hundreds of murders that have gone with lighter punishment including the murder of Graeme Staines and his children!! Why is there a double standard in political circles? The Hindi belt is unconcerned about the Sri Lankans. The Hindu fundamentalists are baying for the death of only the Muslim terrorists. Many Sikhs are interested only in the pardon of Bhullar. It is high time that India reconciled itself to the fact that it must stand with the civilized world on the matter of state sponsored murder and have an equal stand on capital punishment. No more killings by the state! Lock away the criminals and throw away the keys if you must. No more Killings!
George Paul.
This is not a defense for Dhananjoy Chaterjee or the three young men being prepared for the gallows. It is a candid, soul searching look ,at the rights of a civilized society to take away life- any life. Baying for revenge is a natural emotive reaction to a terrible deed.
It took twenty years of deliberation and prevarication to say that these men must be punished with death. Perarivalan whose crime was obtaining two nine volt batteries that detonated the bomb that killed Rajiv Gandhi must have been less than twenty years old at the time of his crime. The criminal justice system had enough time to think and deliberate with detached pragmatism. At the end it was irrational hate and revenge that prevailed. The men must have already died a thousand deaths- waiting for the state to decide.
In analyzing the rationale for legitimate governments to kill legally we must try to answer a fundamental question.
What do you do with criminals?
Criminologists, social scientists, human rights activists and judicial experts are more or less agreed that reformation should be the ultimate aim. It explains the use of the term ‘correctional’. The other two aims of punishment are deterrence and isolation from society. Deterrence certainly has its place in criminal reformation. However death as a form of deterrence has never really worked. The Sri Lankans and the Pakistanis and the Sikh separatists had their own agenda- and they were willing to die for it. How can a death sentence be a deterrent? It is only inviting the Indian Republic to be like a primeval society and take revenge? Is that what the father of our Nation would have wanted? Study after study from around the world has conclusively proved that death penalty has and never will be a deterrent even for the habitual criminal. It is hard for us to believe this because it appears like common sense that the promise of a strong punishment will frighten the criminal. In fact many well-conducted studies have shown that the certainty rather than the severity of punishment, serves as a deterrent. Canada, which abolished death penalty in 1976, has had a decrease in capital crimes by 40% from 1976 to 2002. In America, the southern states with the largest number of people on death row, continues to have a much larger incidence of capital crimes like murder and rape compared to the northern states. Many States in the USA have actually seen a decrease in crime rates after abolishing the death penalty and the introduction of life imprisonment without hope of a parole. Justice should not only be certain but also speedy. These statistics have been reproduced in numerous countries, which chose to scrap the death penalty. Today almost all the countries, including the European Union, South America and many states in the USA have abolished death penalty or do not have it as a government policy. The countries, which chose to retain the death penalty, have abysmal human rights records. The countries which do not have respect for human rights, like Saudi Arabia, have laws that are hardly worth emulating. India needs to decide what kind of example it must adopt as its social and judicial policy. The choice is between that of Europe with its high standard of fairness and Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iraq, Pakistan and the republic of Congo where even juveniles are punished with death penalty.
The answer to the dangers of allowing hardcore criminals into society may lie in the laws of commutation. It needs to be restructured to ensure that an incorrigible criminal will never go back to society. A life sentence for murder must be ‘for life’. Many ask why the taxpayer’s money should be used to keep them alive. The criminal will have to be accepted by society as a deviant mind, which is the product of his genetic disposition or the ill effects of the socio-political environment. We cannot eliminate them just as we do not eliminate mentally and physically deranged patients or non-productive senior citizens. The welfare state has to take some responsibilities. The only reason for supporting ‘death for the killer’ is a revengeful and barbaric emotion that cannot be a state policy- at least not in our country which has pledged itself as a welfare democracy based on the principles of ‘ahimsa’ propounded by the father of our nation- Mahatma Gandhi.
The Australian Council Against Death Penalty (ACADP) says this about capital punishment:
The most premeditated of all murders.
The only thing it accomplishes is death.
There is no justice or redemption for the criminal.
There is no restitution for the family of the victim.
There is only a dead body.-Another dead body and another group of innocent victims.
To understand the premeditated process of killing, one needs to examine the protocols that are followed. The prisoner knows the date and time and spends it in isolation, while his lawyers make last ditch efforts. There is a death watch to make sure that the prisoner does not kill himself (and thus deprive the state of the privilege). He is asked what he wants to dine on. Dhananjoy’s last meal was two extra pieces of fish, some curd and sweets. It was a small luxury- a few hours before he was to be hanged. Contrary to popular belief most people don’t get anything more than a cheese burger, fries and a soft drink (in the USA). The prison manual in India allows a vegetarian meal (unlimited I am told). Doctors examine and weigh them to make sure they are healthy. In India they are weighed to make sure the rope will hold. If the rope breaks, the prisoner might break his legs, you see. In the USA they are given diapers lest they void and embarrass themselves in the course of dying. They even swab the skin with a disinfectant before administering lethal injection. There is something sick and eerie about the methodical process of planned killing. No wonder the majority of countries with a conscience have done away with capital punishment.
In India there is yet another dimension. Race and religion. Many Tamils do not want the Sri Lankans killed. Many Muslims do not want Afzal Guru killed. Many Sikhs do not want Bhullar killed. I cannot differentiate one from the other. If Ajmal Kasab had killed randomly in Mumbai or Afzal Guru had played a role in threatening the Parliament then Murugan and others are involved in the murder of a former Prime minister and numerous others. To me these are as heinous as the hundreds of murders that have gone with lighter punishment including the murder of Graeme Staines and his children!! Why is there a double standard in political circles? The Hindi belt is unconcerned about the Sri Lankans. The Hindu fundamentalists are baying for the death of only the Muslim terrorists. Many Sikhs are interested only in the pardon of Bhullar. It is high time that India reconciled itself to the fact that it must stand with the civilized world on the matter of state sponsored murder and have an equal stand on capital punishment. No more killings by the state! Lock away the criminals and throw away the keys if you must. No more Killings!
George Paul.
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